Friday, June 16, 2006

The hip-hop mix tape has come so far. As passed down through DJs such as Kid Capri and Funkmaster Flex,it has served essentially the same purpose � as a compilation of segued-together cuts rather than astand-alone work itself and, therefore, an archetypal soundtrack to house parties or underground gatherings.But taking its cue instead from Grandmaster Flash, who pioneered the form commercially on his landmark cutclassic "The Adventures of Grand Master Flash on the Wheels of Steel," Brainfreeze transforms the mix tapeinto a genuine piece of musical art, a sampladelic, turntablist collage that may be the apotheosis of � orat least a turning point for � the genre. Even prior to the release of the album, the collaboration betweenCut Chemist and DJ Shadow had developed an almost legendary buzz. In the fall of 1999, the two kicked offa series of live performances sponsored by San Francisco art collective and record label Future PrimitiveSound. Brainfreeze captures for posterity, in two uninterrupted takes, the live DAT rehearsal tapes fromthe duo's premiere show together, and it is an amazing display of spontaneous music-making. The music splitsthe difference between the groundbreaking, Brian Eno-worthy soundscapes that have characterized DJ Shadow'ssolo career and the ebullient, breakbeat-savvy, street-corner jive of old school-style rap, as exemplifiedby Chemist's crew Jurassic 5. Some of the snippets cut and pasted here will be readily familiar to longtimefans of rap music, and some formed the basis for tracks on Shadow's first two albums, but the majority arefrom extremely rare and generally forgotten 45s absent from the crates of even the most ardent beat-diggers.The project itself signifies a duality of sacrifice and resurrection. Sacrifice applies because in the actof spinning these premium records the DJs were literally destroying or damaging their rare vinyl. Also, dueto the music's improvisational nature, the set could never possibly be repeated in quite the same way. On theother hand, it is a resurrection in that it synthesizes a half-century of soul and funk music that has fallenthrough mainstream cracks, thereby revealing an entire alternate history of principally black urban music.Unfortunately, the album stops short of being the actual history lesson it might have been, as it fails tolist the artists and song credits. Some of the value in uncovering them in the first place is, as a result,nullified. It is a minor blemish, however, when measured against the visionary, forward-looking aura ofBrainfreeze. It is a dizzyingly brilliant, virtuoso work of two exceedingly fecund imaginations.

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